Amy Maxmen

Genetic mutation changes from adaptive to dangerous after reproductive age.

The Cambrian explosion of animal life now seems more like a whimper.

As a rule, huge organizations move sluggishly, bogged down in democratic decision-making processes and bureaucratic policies. Ebola, on the other hand, moves fast. People become desperately sick and contagious within a few weeks of infection. By the time international agencies effectively responded to the ongoing Ebola outbreak, it had spiraled out of control in West […]

In Ethiopia, evolution is not a threat to people of faith.

 If history adheres to timeless long-term trends, Walter Isaacson’s recent book on the digital revolution, The Innovators, could reveal a lot about the future of our digital age. Last week Isaacson, known for his biographies of Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein, spoke about the geniuses behind the last century of innovation at the New-York Historical […]

In Ethiopia, paleontologists are pushing back the clock on humanity’s origins.

Digging through the world’s oldest graveyard with African paleontologists.

A new study shows that the comb jelly Pleurobrachia bachei evolved its complex features, including neurons and muscles, separately from animals like us.Leonid Moroz and Mat Citarella Our brains, perched atop a network of nerve cells that ascend the length of our bodies, are thought to have arisen once in an animal hundreds of millions […]

Ken Kraaijeveld unveils ancient secrets of seduction from the animal kingdom.

DNA studies topple the ladder of complexity.